Willie John Selmon’s attorney told a Dakota County judge Monday that his client was in the “fog of war” when he exchanged gunfire with Michelle McGill’s son in an Apple Valley neighborhood two years ago.

McGill, who had recently broken up with Selmon after a 16-year relationship, was sitting in her car in her driveway when she was caught in the crossfire between Selmon and her son, Billy Joe Pryor Jr., according to prosecutors. McGill, 49, was struck by seven bullets fired by two guns and died at the scene.

Selmon’s attorney, Ira Whitlock, told Judge Timothy McManus that his client “made poor decisions” after Pryor fired first, hitting him in the face and head.

Willie John Selmon (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

“His instinct to live is what led him to run to the front of that car and think, ‘there’s no way this kid is going to shoot at me or shoot me more than he’s already done if I’m standing in the front of this car,’ ”  Whitlock said. “But the victim was never used as a shield.”

McManus went on to sentence Selmon to 10 years in prison for McGill’s killing, giving the 41-year-old a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines.

Selmon had reached a deal with the prosecution in June and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by drive-by shooting for his role in the June 2022 killing. As part of the plea deal, the prosecution agreed to dismiss a second-degree intentional murder charge and ask for no more than 21 years and nine months in prison.

In granting the departure, McManus said he found Selmon is “particularly amenable to probation” — he noted no previous felony convictions — and that the case is “less onerous than others.”

“I do believe that you were shot first,” McManus said. “I do believe when you were being shot first, that you were in a situation that you would not have been in had you not been shot in the face. What you did after that was reckless. No doubt about it.”

Pryor, 27, of Apple Valley, faces the same two charges that Selmon did before his plea deal. A jury trial is scheduled for March.

He went to retrieve property

Police responding to a 911 call about shots fired in the 900 block of Oriole Drive found McGill dead outside her car just before 6:30 p.m. July 10, 2022. She was shot in her thigh, chest and multiple times in her lower abdomen.

Pryor was at the scene, while Selmon soon pulled up to M Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville in his SUV with two gunshot wounds. He was transported to another hospital, where officers took a statement from him.

Selmon told investigators he’d been in a long-term relationship with McGill but they recently separated. He said they previously shared the home in Apple Valley and that he went there to retrieve some of his property.

Billy Joe Pryor, Jr. (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Department)

When he arrived, McGill and Pryor were in their cars in the driveway. Selmon said he parked his SUV in the driveway behind McGill’s car, walked to the garage to grab some belongings and then back to his SUV.

According to the charges, Pryor backed his vehicle up so he was parked adjacent to Selmon’s SUV and then made a statement about having a gun. Pryor then allegedly fired shots at Selmon as they were both sitting in their vehicles. Selmon took shots to his face and head.

He got out of his SUV and ran to the front of McGill’s vehicle “believing Pryor would stop shooting if his mother was between them,” the charges say.

After Pryor exited his car and went to the passenger’s side, the two exchanged gunfire. It was during this volley of shots that McGill, who was still in her car situated between Pryor and Selmon, was fatally shot.

As Pryor ran from the home, Selmon followed and continued to fire shots at him, the charges say. Bullet holes were found in a nearby home, which was occupied by several people when struck.

Prosecutors initially charged Pryor and Selmon with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with the deadly shootout. However, they said at the time that ballistic and forensic evidence would play a role in whether homicide charges would be filed against one or both of the men. Murder charges were filed in April 2023.

‘Michelle deserves justice’

On Monday, the prosecution asked McManus to give Selmon a 21¾-year prison term.

“This is a shootout in a residential neighborhood with a woman literally caught in the middle,” Assistant Dakota County Attorney Cory Monnens said, noting that 39 casings were located at the scene. “And both men in this case had tried to evade responsibility by pointing the finger at the other. And the evidence shows that both men engaged in this incredibly dangerous activity without a care for the person caught in between. Michelle deserves justice.”

Monnens said Selmon put McGill in between him and Pryor by running to the front of her car to take cover and “he admitted as much at the (plea) hearing. And it was him that was firing through her car at Billy Pryor. There are four bullet holes in Michelle’s windshield that the BCA all concluded had entered from the front where Mr. Selmon was standing.”

Monnens said that despite Selmon’s claim that Pryor fired first, “it’s the actions (Selmon) took after that that make this criminal, that make it murder.”

Whitlock, Selmon’s attorney, called it “a reckless shooting. Not murder.”

Selmon addressed the court before hearing his sentence, telling McManus in a prepared statement that he pleaded guilty “because I believe in you. When I came here the first time, you said that I gotta be held accountable for something because I took action out there. … I hope you are lenient in what you do with me. I know there’s consequences.”

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